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Amur Minerals Corporation (AMC) is a developing mineral exploration company focused on base metal projects in the far east of Russia. The company's principal asset is the Kun-Manie sulphide nickel, copper project located in Amur Oblast, with JORC resources in excess of a 830,000 nickel equivalent tonnes and a positive independently compiled prefeasiblility study. Discovery costs of less than $US 0.03 per pound of nickel rank it among the lowest cost discoverers in the world.

Amur Minerals Related Media

Robin Young, chief executive of Amur Minerals (LON:AMC), says the company is still very optimistic it will get the licence to begin drilling at the Kun-Manie nickel project in the far east of Russia.

The company has mapped out a programme of up to 6,000 metres of drilling while it waits on the final approval from the authorities.

On the current economic situation in Russia, Young said: ‘One of the advantages is the devaluation of the Russian Rouble, which has strengthened our position financially. So our costs have actually dropped 50% in Russia.’

Presentations & Company Media

Company Statement

Corporate Mission Statement

Firstly, it is focused on exploration, within the exploration licence area, by drilling to expand the reserve base, compile the necessary engineering studies and ultimate optimised designs to the standards of a Bankable Study. All work is being conducted to the highest international technical and environmental levels appropriate for financing of a large scale project that will be both profitable and competitive with its peer group.

Secondly and concurrent with the first objective, the Board is actively pursuing the conversion of a portion of its exploration licence to a production licence. With the certificate of discovery in hand granting first right to production, the application for the production licence is being processed through the various Russian Federation agencies responsible for licence issuance. The Board is resolved to provide and assist the agencies in the processing of the application through to assignment to the Company.

The Board’s approach has been specifically structured to advance the technical aspects of the project while the licence is being processed. By utilising this dual approach, the project can be advanced on a swifter basis. The Board considers this approach to be a viable and preferred path to deliver shareholder value as Amur Minerals moves from exploration to production.

Current Operations

Project Background

In 2004, the Company acquired the 950 km2 Kun-Manie exploration licence 700 km northeast of the capital city of Blagoveshchensk located on the Chinese border. The area was selected based on historical Soviet data which indicated the potential presence of sulphide nickel and copper. The dominant geological feature of Kun-Manie is the Kun-Manie Massif, a metagabbro-anorthosite intrusive of Early Archean age which hosts a series of mafic and ultramafic flat lying to shallowly dipping sills, some of which were indicated to contain economic amounts of sulphide nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum and palladium.

Licence wide exploration over the past decade has identified the presence of a 40 kilometre long by 2 kilometre wide structure called the Kurumkon Trend which hosts the primary occurrences of sulphide nickel and copper thereby making it the primary exploration target of the Company. Focused exploration along this trend has identified multiple sills containing nickel bearing pentlandite, pyrrhotite and copper-bearing chalcopyrite in disseminated and veinlet form.

In December 2007, SRK Consulting (Russia) Ltd completed a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) on the Kun-Manie project using available information and various available engineering reports. Positive results were provided by SRK Russia along with recommendations for additional follow on work and areas of potential optimisation. As a result and during the interim period from completion of the study, the Company has completed substantially more exploration and engineering works not reflected in the information below.

The Company is presently in the process of updating the PFS to reflect inflation of operating and capital costs, a newly implemented and decreased profits tax schedule, improved metallurgical recoveries, decreased smelter penalties, substantial increases in the resources as a result of step out and in fill drilling, and the design of updated ultimate pits with reserves. Results of this update will be released to the public when available and the results derived in the update will be uploaded to the website.

Design Results

The Company announced the results of an independent pre-feasibility study prepared by SRK on the Kun-Manie project in December 2007:

Post Tax NPV (10 %) of $84 million;

Annually 4 Mt of ore open-pit mined;

Production – a total of 38.2 Mt of ore (at 0.55% nickel and 0.15% copper);

16,000 tonnes of nickel contained in a sulphide concentrate suitable for smelting;

Initial capital expenditure of $331 million;

Total operating cost of $2.51 to generate and deliver a pound of nickel to the nearest railroad.

The pre-feasibility study showed that the project is economic at a nickel price of $US16,530 / Tonne.

Management

Robert Schafer, Chairman (Non-Executive)

Mr Schafer has 38 years of experience in the mineral industry, working in the international sector with both major and junior mining companies. He is currently Executive Vice-President, Business Development with Hunter Dickinson Inc., a globally active private natural resources corporation. Throughout his career Mr Schafer has worked internationally, with notable experience in the far east of Russia, Southern Africa, South America and Australia.

His work has included the structuring and implementation of successful exploration strategies, project reviews and valuations leading to acquisitions, and the management of local and expatriate exploration teams operating in a wide variety of geologic environments. In addition, he is the Incoming President of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (CIM) and Vice President of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), and a Past President of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America.

Robin Young, Chief Executive Officer

Mr Young is a geological engineer who has worked extensively in the CIS since 1991. He has 37 years of experience in the mineral resources industry overall, which has included large projects in remote areas as well as significant work with junior mining companies. He has held positions of increasing responsibility within the exploration, development and production sectors. Since 1980, he has been involved in the international sector and has been the Chief Executive Officer of two geological and mining consultancy companies. He has been CEO of the Company since October 2004. Mr. Young is a licensed Professional Geologist and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geological Engineering.

Brian Savage, Non-Executive Director

Mr Savage is a founder of Frontier Mining Limited and served as a Director since that company’s formation in August 1998, acting as Chief Executive Officer between 2001 and 2009. He has 20 years’ experience in all aspects of the mining industry, having held senior positions in the Bank of New York, Sharps Pixley and the Bank of Montreal. In 1996, he become President of Earth Search Sciences Inc (ESSI), a remote sensing company with applications in the mining industry, playing a major role in the Remote Sensing Mission to Kazakhstan (sponsored by the U.S. Government) and formed several joint venture companies in Kazakhstan. Mr Savage left ESSI in 1998 and formed Frontier, having acquired the relevant data and local rights to the ESSI findings. He has a BSc in Mining Engineering and an MSc in Mineral Economics from the Colorado School of Mines.

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